


i’d trade all my tomorrows (for just one yesterday)

by Astraea_717



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: And by that I mean living in outright denial, Civil War Fix-It, Endgame sucked, Gen, HEA Guaranteed, Irondad, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Precious Peter Parker, Thanos gets bitch-slapped, This is me processing, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark acting as Peter Parker’s parental figure, and I’m a slut for time travel fics so here we are, bc what's the point otherwise, like nuh uh ain’t gonna be none of that in my house, metaphorically i mean, no beta we die like men, no worries i’m fixing it, or do i???, spiderson
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:27:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28065465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Astraea_717/pseuds/Astraea_717
Summary: The impossible had happened.Tony Stark was dead.And then he wasn't.---“Kid…” Tony starts, and he sees the exact moment it hits Peter, the moment his kid understands that what should be impossible is most definitely not. Tony swallows, and as he stares into those wide, bambi eyes that have seen way too much, he says, “Peter, it’s 2016…we’re back.”
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Peter Parker & Pepper Potts, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 113
Kudos: 427





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I know I should be working on Witchling (which, btw, should be updated soon) but I love time travel fics and because Endgame was horrible (I flat-out refuse to acknowledge MCU without Tony) I decided I needed to fix it so here we are!! Updates will be sporadic, I literally have no idea when the next one will come, so keep that in mind. 
> 
> ALSO I was watching the snap scene in Endgame over and over for this in order to get in the mood and literally sobbed all over my keyboard as I wrote this lol 💕 (think of the emotional pain I went through, guys, just for you)
> 
> Disclaimer: The fact that Stark died is proof enough that I don’t own MCU bc believe me that shit wouldn’t have even been allowed as a ghost of an idea if I were in charge. 
> 
> *title from a Fall Out Boy song*

Thanos’ hand was still raised from his unsuccessful snap, his confusion clearing as soon as his head whipped around to face Tony. His rage was apoplectic as the stones settled into Tony’s gauntlet.

“And I,” Tony panted out, gritting his teeth against the pain that thrummed within his veins, “am…Iron Man.”

_Snap._

It was finally over.

He staggered on his feet, the pain radiating throughout his body with every movement. He was on fire – no, he _was_ fire. He tried to swallow but his throat was too dry, and his mouth filled with the metallic tang of blood and what he imagined lighting would taste like. Every twitch of a muscle was a million years of agony, every breath he drew brought a new wave of suffering. His vision blurred, his eyes couldn’t focus. The ringing in his ears grew louder with every second that passed. He fell, bracing against something with his arm, then collapsed to the ground. 

_It was all over._

* * *

_I_ _t was all over._

Peter let himself sigh in relief as the enemy turned to dust. They had won, Thanos was gone – everything was going to be okay. 

He scanned the battlefield for Mr. Stark. He wanted to celebrate, wanted to catch up after – what had Dr. Strange said it had been, again? Five _years_? Jesus, May was gonna kill him. 

His eyes fell on that familiar red and gold armor, watching as it collapsed against a rock. _Wait, collapsed?_ His breath caught, and he ignored the burn in his muscles as he raced over to Tony, who looked – god, he looked terrible. His face was grey and burned, the metal along his right arm scorched black. Dust and blood covered his face, and his armor was melted in places, warping oddly around his skin. 

“Mr. Stark?” Peter’s voice was small. _No._ This wasn’t happening, this couldn’t be happening. Not him, not when he just got back to him. _Anybody but him._ Peter stumbled over to the man who lay propped up against a rock with unfocused eyes. His breath hitched. _God, no, please – not him._ “Hey,” he said, his voice shaking as he knelt by his side. “Mr. Stark, c-can you hear me?” Peter could barely get the words out as his throat closed up. His breaths came unevenly as he struggled to draw in air – _he can’t go, he can’t leave me, not when I just got him back._ He desperately grabbed onto Tony’s shoulders in an unsuccessful attempt to ground himself. “It’s Peter.” Tony’s eyes slid over to Peter’s, his gaze sharpening slightly on the boy who stared at him in despair. 

“We won,” Peter breathed. “Mr. Stark – we won, Mr. Stark.” Peter’s vision blurred as tears streamed down his bruised cheeks, and he started to shake. “We won – you did it, sir, you did it.” His voice was almost incoherent as he struggled to breathe – _in and out, in and out –_ he couldn’t hear anything but the ragged breaths Mr. Stark took, couldn’t see anything except for the burns that crept up the side of Tony’s face and the glassy eyes that were locked with his own. 

Peter choked on his salty tears and his fists tightened around the dying man. His breaths came faster and faster as he clutched Tony like a lifeline. “I’m sorry – _Tony,_ ” he whispered, leaning over and pressing his forehead against the glowing blue Arc Reactor. _Not him – he can’t leave, not him._ There was a gentle pressure as someone moved him over to the side – Pepper, he thinks, because she would want to see Tony too, before – _before…_

He can’t even finish the thought, can’t think of something that was never supposed to happen, that _shouldn’t be happening._ He hears murmurs from beside him as Pepper speaks to her fiancé but he can’t make out the words, focused only on the unimaginable _wrongness_ of the entire situation. 

And then–

And then the glow of the Arc Reactor, which had so faithfully saved Tony Stark all those years ago, flickered – once, twice, _three times_ – before going dark. 

He suspected that the heartbreaking, keening wail that Pepper made right then would haunt him until his own death – he had never imagined he would ever hear something so devastating come from the woman who had always been so poised, so strong and confident and always, _always_ put-together. 

There’s a muffled sob, and it takes Peter a moment before he realizes that it’s him making the noise, smothering it with a hand pressed tightly over his mouth. He can’t stop the quaking of his body as he cries, can’t see through the tears, can’t seem to _breathe –_ he drops to his knees, barely feeling the sharp pain that runs through them as they roughly meet the hard ground. He gasps for breath between sobs, and then he’s blindly crawling towards his mentor, who stares unseeingly into the distance. 

He grabs onto Tony, clutching at his shoulders so tightly he thinks he might have dented the metal, but he can’t bring himself to care. He’s as close as he can possibly be to the older man, his face turned into where his shoulder meets his neck, arms wrapped around him firmly. He mostly smells blood, the sharp, metallic tang stinging his nose, and he wishes he could smell _Tony_ – motor oil mixed with some fancy cologne that somehow always smelled safe, like home. 

“ _No_ , Tony – no, don’t leave me,” he begged, his voice cracking. He tried and failed to gulp down the painful lump in his throat before taking another shuddering breath. “Tony – _Dad_ – come back, _please,_ come back.” He can’t breathe, _he can’t breathe,_ because – because Tony was – another father was de–

_No._ No, Tony was going to get up, _he had to get up_ . Because if he didn’t then that would mean that Peter would never see him again, never complain to him about the unnecessary protocols he installed in his suit, never work alongside him in his labs, never see him suppress a grin at his snark, never fight with Iron Man again – because Iron Man was gone, _Tony_ was gone, and he was never coming back–

Oh God, he was never coming back. 

The small amount of control Peter had snaps, and the hoarse scream that he had been holding back finally burst out of him as he pulled Tony closer. Pepper’s hand is pressed against his back; it shakes and trembles in time with her mournful sobs.

Peter breaks, and the only thing he can think is that he wants to go _back_ – back to when he hadn’t gone to space, back to when Tony was there, back to when the biggest problem they had were the Accords. It runs through his mind in a loop – _I want to go back,_ _I want to go back,_ _I want to go back, I want to go ba–_

The world explodes in a flash of green light. Someone – he thinks it might’ve been Pepper – screams his name. 

The last thing Peter sees before his vision goes black is the dying, green glow of the stone set in the thumb joint of Tony’s blackened, burned hand. 

* * *

Tony falls to his knees, the metal of his suit clanking against the concrete. He’s hunched over, his arms barely able to support his weight. He breathes heavily, blinking black spots from his eyes as he stares down at his undamaged, metal-covered hands. 

_This is wrong,_ he thinks, but doesn’t know why. 

What’s going on? He can’t remember, his thoughts are sluggish. He tries to think, blocking out the sounds of everything else around him. He thinks he hears Natasha, but that can’t be right, because she was gone – dead. 

Why was Nat dead? 

He tries to remember, tries to think of what happened, of where he was before, but he can’t quite recall–

_Oh._

It hits him, all of the sudden, and if he wasn’t already on his knees he would’ve fallen. 

He remembers all of it – Titan, Thanos, the stones, Nat’s sacrifice, snapping, dying, Peter–

_Peter._ He remembers Peter, who held him as he died. (Did he die? He thinks so. Maybe. He doesn’t know anymore.)

“Peter.” His voice is hoarse, but loud enough to gain the attention of those around him. He finally looks up, coming face-to-face with a very worried-looking Rhodey in his War Machine suit. _The wrong War Machine suit,_ his mind supplies, but he isn’t focused on that; he needs to know where Peter is, because _god_ , it’s been five years since he’s seen his kid and he doesn’t want to wait a second more. He stands, opening up the suit and stumbling out of it only to fall back down to his knees, wincing. 

“Peter!” He says again, louder. His voice is rough, frantic. He looks around, ignoring as a beardless Cap takes a hesitant step towards him, and his heart stutters in his chest when he spots Natasha kneeling beside his kid. Peter’s in the same position as Tony is, head bowed and on his hands and knees, his mask thrown aside. 

“Pete!” He calls out one more time, and tries to get to his feet, but his legs won’t cooperate for some reason. 

Peter’s head snaps up at Tony’s voice. He dazedly blinks a couple of times before he croaks out “ _Dad!_ ” and all but throws himself into Tony’s arms (Tony barely hears the exclamations of _‘Dad?!’_ in the background, all he can think about as his heart stutters and warmth fills his chest is that his kid is _alive,_ alive and in his arms). Tony tightens his grip on Peter, reminding himself that somehow, some way, they’re here – it’s real.

“You were dead,” Peter mumbled into Tony’s shoulder. “You died – _died_.” His voice trembled. “You died and left me a-alone,” he whispers, and finally, the tears start dripping down his face. 

And dammit if that doesn’t break Tony’s goddamn fucking heart, because the last thing he ever wanted to do was leave the kid – but there was Thanos, and the stones, and in the end – well, in the end it was never about what Tony wanted, was it.

“I know, kid,” he whispers back, “I’m sorry – _I’m sorry_.” He repeats those words, over and over, clutching Peter tightly against him, one hand curled into his hair. 

They’re interrupted by a soft cough, and it’s Natasha who speaks up, her voice cautious – “Tony…what’s going on?”

Both Tony and Peter look up at that, and, blinking tears out of their eyes, they finally get a good look at their surroundings. 

They’re outside an airport…a very familiar, German airport, where a very, _very_ familiar Civil War took place.

Tony paled and whispered, “Oh, _fuck._ ”

Peter’s brow furrowed, and his breathing quickened as he struggled to reign in his panic. “W-why are we _here_ ? Are…are we _dead_?”

And _fuck_ , if Tony hadn’t _just_ figured out goddamn fucking _time travel_ , he would think so too…but no. No, now he knows better. 

“No, kid,” he says, and then he gives a short, borderline hysterical laugh, because he knows he’s gonna have to save the world all over again, and that the weight on his shoulders just got that much heavier. It leaves a bittersweet taste in his mouth, but at least this way he gets to see Peter again, gets to fix things. 

Save everyone. 

He’s still trying to process the fact that he’s seven years in the past, but he’s already got the bare-bones of a plan forming, and it sure as hell doesn’t involve anyone dying. 

“No,” Tony repeats, and then he forces himself to look into Peter’s red-rimmed eyes. “Peter, we’re back.” 

“Back?” Peter croaks out, his forehead still creased in confusion. 

“Kid…” Tony starts, and he sees the exact moment it hits Peter, the moment his kid understands that what should be impossible is most definitely  _ not _ . Tony swallows, and as he stares into those wide, bambi eyes that have seen  _ way  _ too much, he says, “Peter, it’s 2016…we’re  _ back. _ ”

  
Tony ignores the concerned muttering coming from Rhodey and Natasha. His eyes are locked with Peter’s, whose mouth drops open before he closes his eyes, rests his forehead on Tony’s shoulder, and echoes: “Oh, _fuck_.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at me, posting another chapter already! The responses that I got from the first chapter were absolutely amazing, I love that you guys love this fic and honestly all the reviews made me so happy and motivated thank you 💕

“This is my fault,” Peter rambles, his fingers tugging at his curls. “All my fault...I’m sorry, I’m _so sorry_ –“ 

“Kid, _kid,_ stop saying you’re sorry. And what do you mean it’s your fault?”

“I’m the one who brought us back here! I wished that we could go back, and then the Time Stone went all glowy, and now look at us!” Peter’s voice grew strangled. “Stuck in _2016._ ”

Tony grabbed onto both sides of Peter’s face, forcing his kid to look him in the eye. “And I’m _glad_ for it, Pete.” That, at least, got Peter to stop fidgeting and instead look up at Tony hesitantly. 

“Are you sure? Because I messed up, so, _so_ bad–”

“Peter.” Tony interrupted. “ _Kid._ Come on, calm down, m’kay?” Peter took a deep breath. “You – kid, you’ve done _good._ ” Peter began to protest, but Tony cut him off. “No, Peter, don’t argue this. Do you even realize what amazing thing you’ve done? How many people you’ve saved by bringing us back?” 

Peter’s eyes widened, and it sort of hit Tony then, too, that they could keep the world – no, the _universe_ – from the devastation that Thanos wrought when he snapped his fingers. Shit, those five years without his kid – yeah, they were torture, but he knew people who went through much, _much_ worse.

He promised himself that this time, they wouldn’t have to. 

“We’re gonna save them all,” Peter whispers to himself, and though Tony knows, realistically, that saving everyone is a fool’s dream, he doesn’t contradict Peter. Instead, he swallowed hard and nodded once, telling himself that he would try his damn best to make that a true statement. 

Tony gave himself exactly two seconds to get it together and then stood, ruffling his kid’s hair as he did. 

He turned to face his teammates. 

_Teammates._ He scoffed inwardly at his wording. Their so-called ‘team’ was a joke at this time _._ It had been barely held together at the seams when the Accords were proposed, and then it had broken apart when the secrets and miscommunications led to Tony getting a shield slammed into his chest. 

_That hasn’t happened yet, and never will,_ he reminds himself, but it doesn’t do much to quell the feeling of betrayal that he still gets whenever he sees Rogers. 

Sue him. 

He’ll work with Rogers, to an extent – he’s not stupid enough to go after Thanos with the Avengers split like they were last time – but he can safely say that he will never fully trust the man like he did before. Still, Rogers is good for end-of-the-world type situations, and he could use his help in the Thanos department.

Tony looks at Natasha, who has her arms crossed, a tiny crease between her brows as she stares at him, no doubt trying to figure out what just happened. Standing beside her, Steve wore a slightly dumbfounded look on his face as he stared at Peter, who stood a bit behind Tony. 

“Tony…” Steve started, his voice hesitant, “you want to tell us why the _kid–_ ” 

Tony can practically _feel_ the disapproval in his tone, and yeah,bringing Peter to Germany was one of his more questionable decisions, but to be fair, he wasn’t expecting Peter to actually have to fight the people who had once been his family. Stupid of him, he knows. 

“–was going on about you _dying_?” 

Peter flinched. Tony tensed up at the familiar, demanding tone he heard from Steve, then slowly – _slowly –_ took a deep breath, and let it all go. He reached for Peter’s hand, gripping it tightly to remind both him and his kid that they’re _alive_. 

“Not now,” Tony said, his voice a bit gruff. He cleared his throat. “Get the rest of your team over here, Rogers. Including that Ant-guy. And Barnes.” 

At that, T’Challa stepped forward angrily, his shoulders tense, and hissed, “Stark, just what do you think–”

“Barnes didn’t kill your father, T’Challa. He was framed.” Tony said wearily, scrubbing a hand down his face. Peter squeezed his other hand a bit tighter, and Tony appreciated how it seemed to ground him. He squeezed back. Mentally, he went over his plan. _Step one - get everyone caught up on the fact that I know best._

T’Challa freezes at his words, and his eyes narrow at Tony. “And how do you know that?” He asks suspiciously, his accent thick.

“I’ll tell you once Cap gets the rest of his team here, Kitty, you can put those claws away.” 

Steve stared at Tony for a long moment. Tony stared back. He wasn’t sure what Rogers was looking for, but he must’ve found it, because soon enough he was reaching for his earpiece and calling the rest of his team over. 

_Step two - get the Infinity Stones._

Tony is proud that he doesn’t flinch at Barnes’ appearance. He knows – _really, he does –_ that it wasn’t his fault. Hydra was the one who killed his parents, Tony knows this, he knows that Barnes had no control over his body – but he also knows the trigger words aren’t out of his head at the moment and Tony can’t help but worry that he’ll snap and go all Winter-y on their asses. Also, it’s kinda hard to look at the person who strangled his mother in the eyes and not give in the urge to punch him in the face. 

So. 

He’s proud of his restraint. 

God, he thought he’d gotten over this. He had seven years to come to terms with how his parents died. Being back in 2016 is _definitely_ fucking with his brain. 

_Wait, no. Step two - recreate nanotech suits and other tech from the future that can help. Step three - get the infinity stones._

Everybody is staring at him. He looked towards Natasha. _God, it’s good to see her alive._ He’d forgiven her a long time ago for switching sides. He knew she was just trying to keep everything from imploding, it wasn’t her fault it didn’t quite work out as she had hoped. “Are there any cameras or microphones that could pick up what I’m going to tell you?” She shook her head, and Tony let out a long sigh. 

_Step four - fucking obliterate the purple fucking bastard._

He’s gotta tell them. 

God, they’re gonna think he’s gone insane – or maybe they won’t, it’s not like they haven’t had their entire worldview turned upside down before (cough _aliens_ cough). “You guys are gonna want to sit down for this one,” he says, and he pulls Peter into his side as he sinks down onto the concrete. The rest of the team follow his example a bit hesitantly, and soon enough, they’re all on the ground. 

“Okay, first of all, kindergarteners could do better than this – come on now, guys, it’s not that hard to sit in a circle,” Tony started, smirking at the scowls he received for his snark. Vision looked somewhat lost as he attempted to fold his legs into an acceptable criss-cross applesauce position next to Wanda. “And second–” He’s cut off by the sound of his phone ringing, blasting some pop song that he had programmed in as a joke. He flicks his eyes to the screen to see ‘PEP’ written across the top, and his heart clenched. _Pepper._ “Um…gimme a sec, I gotta take this.” He doesn’t remember this happening before, and it’s all he can do to stop himself from getting too excited. _This could mean nothing,_ he reminds himself before he puts the phone to his ear, turning slightly away from the others. 

_“Tony? Tony! Are you okay? Do you remember?”_ Pepper’s voice is tense through the phone, and Tony’s heart lifts at her question. _Oh thank God_ , he thinks. He doesn’t know what he would’ve done if his wife hadn’t remembered him.

“Thanos? Yeah, I remember,” He says softly, and he hears a soft sob sound through the phone. 

“ _Oh my God,”_ Pepper whispers, _“Oh my God. I– You– Tony, you_ died. _Died, Tony! You weren’t supposed to die! And then Peter – oh my God, Peter – he broke, Tony, and then all of the sudden everything was green and all I could think about was Morgan and how she would never– how she would never get to see you again, and how devastated Peter would be–”_ she cut off suddenly, and Tony could just barely hear the deep, heaving breaths she took as she struggled to stay calm because all he could think about was _Morgan._ Morgan, his daughter, who he had somehow forgotten _wouldn’t exist_ in this time, who may never exist, and – _shit,_ how was he going to do this without her? How could he go on knowing that he had gotten Peter, gotten his _son_ back, but had lost his baby girl? A hand – Peter’s – grabbed onto his own, and he clutched it like it was his lifeline.

His hands shook at the thought of never seeing Morgan again, and he had just begun to spiral into what was sure to be a fucking _wonderful_ panic attack when he heard _“Mommy? Are you okay?”_ sound through the phone. He went still. 

“Morgan? Pepper, honey, first I need you to _breathe,_ and then I need you to tell me that you have our daughter right there next to you,” he said, somehow managing to keep his voice calm. 

There was a pause as Pepper got her panic under control. _“Yes, Tony, Morgan’s right here.”_

Tony released the breath he hadn’t known he was holding, and loosened his grip on Peter’s hand. He let out a hoarse laugh. “Okay, okay – good, that’s good,” he murmured, drowning in the feeling of sheer _relief_ that was coursing through him. “Can you put her on the phone real quick?”

There was some shuffling, and then Morgan spoke. _“Daddy?”_  
  


“Hey there, Morguna,” Tony said, “how’re you doing, kiddo?”

_“I’m hungry. Can we get cheeseburgers?”_

Tony chuckled. “Yeah, we can get cheeseburgers. Alright, can you give me back to your mom? I love you 3000, sweetheart.”

_Step five - live happily ever after._

_“I love you 3000 too, daddy.”_

There’s some more shuffling before Pepper speaks. _“So you’re okay? And – and is Peter…?”_

“Peter’s here too, and I’m fine,” Tony reassured her. “We’re both fine. Are _you_ okay?”

There was a pause. _“I’m…I’m pretty sure I’m in shock, but other than that, I’m fine. And Morgan’s okay too, just a little confused.”_

“Where are you?” Tony asks. 

_“We came back to my New York office. Luckily, no one was around. I already had FRIDAY fix any footage that caught Morgan just appearing out of thin air, but I called you before doing anything else. Where are you?”_

“Germany.” He can hear her breath catch. “We came back before the fight started, don’t worry.”

_“Are you…are you telling them?”_

“Yeah, I was just about to when you called.”

_“Okay,”_ Pepper said, _“okay. I need to see you, so after you finish with them, come to – oh, we still have the penthouse, don’t we?”_

“Right.” Tony snapped his fingers. “We haven’t sold the tower yet – actually, I’ve just now decided that we’re gonna keep the tower, make a note – so we’ll meet you there in–” he checked his watch “–around four hours. Tell FRIDAY to get us cheeseburgers, the ones from that place that I like.”  
  
 _“I’ll see you guys soon, Tony. I love you.”_

“Love you too.” He ended the call, and then turned to face the rest of the team, who were looking at him in various states of disbelief. “Where was I?”

“Kindergarteners,” Peter supplied helpfully.

“That’s right – first of all, you guys are worse than kindergarteners. Second of all, we’re from the future.”

Silence. 

Rhodey lets out a nervous laugh. “Come on, Tones, tell us what’s really going on.”

Tony looked straight at him, his eyes serious. “Rhodey, we’re from 2023. I died – after saving the entire universe, I might add – and then the Time Stone took it upon itself to throw us back into our 2016 bodies.” Rhodey looked at him skeptically. “I’m serious, Honeybear! Come on, after aliens, time travel shouldn’t be so hard to believe.”

“I…Jesus, Tones, you _died?_ ” Rhodey’s voice dropped to a whisper. 

“Yeah, hell of a way to go, too.” Tony joked. Peter stiffened and Tony thought it might be best to move on. 

“So tell us something only someone from the future would know,” Natasha said, her voice betraying nothing. 

Steve spoke up. “We could always have Wanda–”

“No!” Peter and Tony spoke at the same time. 

Tony took a deep breath. “No, we’re not doing that.” He had already had her in his head once, and that was one too many times.

Steve nodded reluctantly. 

Tony thought for a second. “Okay, I know the secret you and Rogers are keeping from me.”

Natasha’s expression was indecipherable. “So, what is it?”

Tony paused, his eyes flicking towards Barnes. “Uh…the Winter Soldier – HYDRA – killed my parents.”

Barnes froze, and Steve quickly moved in front of him protectively. “It wasn’t him, Tony!”

“I know that,” Tony said quietly. “It was HYDRA, they controlled him. I’m not going to attack him, Rogers.”

Steve had the decency to at least look abashed. “Sorry, Tony, it’s just that–”

Tony laughed humorlessly. “I know, you would do anything to protect Barnes. Just – promise me you won’t go and slam a shield into my chest and leave me for dead, ‘kay?”

Steve’s eyes widened, affronted. “I would nev–” 

“You did.” Tony cut him off, keeping his voice carefully void of emotion. He pulled Peter closer into his side. 

Rhodey looked horrified at the revelation. 

T’Challa chose this moment to cut in. “So if Barnes was not responsible for my father’s death, then who was?”

“A Sokovian named Helmut Zemo. His family was killed during Ultron’s attack, so he decided to punish the Avengers by ripping them apart.” Tony paused. “In my timeline, he succeeded. You let him rot in prison for the rest of his miserable life.”

“This is so _cool!_ ” All eyes turned towards Scott. He grimaced. “Uh, I mean – sorry, it’s just, like, _time travel._ You’ve actually time traveled. Like, for real. It’s– it’s just– sorry, I’ll shut up now.”

“So we believe him?” Clint asked, his eyes narrowed on Peter and Tony. 

“Yes,” Natasha replied, and that was that. 

Tony checked his watch. “Okay, we’ve got to go, Pep will kill me if we’re late. To the Quinjets, chop chop, let’s go!” He clapped twice. 

Steve hesitated. “Um, Tony, what about Ross? And the other Winter Soldiers?”

Tony cursed. “Damn, I forgot about Ross. He’s got to go. The other soldiers are already dead.” He paused, then turned to the Wakandan King. “Can you provide Rogers and his team with Asylum while I sort out the Accords? Also, I recommend cryostasis for Barnes until the Princess figures out how to remove the trigger words.”

T’Challa hesitated for only a moment before nodding. “You will explain everything, though?”

“I’ll head over to Wakanda after I’m finished with my family and fill you in. Let me tell you, the future pretty much sucks, so there are some big changes I’m planning on making,” Tony said. “Okay, Vis, Rhodey, Pete – oh, and Nat and Scott, and whoever else – you guys are with me. Everyone else goes with Hello Kitty over there. We’ll meet up in Wakanda soon as I can get away.”

Everyone stood and began to group up. Tony pushed Peter towards the Quinjet, then forced himself to walk over to where Barnes and Rogers stood. “Hey,” he said and the soldier stiffened. “I don’t blame you. I blame HYDRA. So–” He held out a hand and smirked. “What do you say we put it all behind us?” 

Barnes looked down at the proffered limb hesitantly, before swallowing hard. “No – no, it was my fault…I killed them, how can you even stand to look at me?” His voice was rough with disuse, guilt and disgust in every word. 

“You didn’t want to kill them, right?”

  
  
“Of course not!” Barnes glared at him. “But I did!”

“No, HYDRA did,” Tony pointed at him. “You had no control over your actions, so it wasn’t your fault. There, I said it, that means it must be true. Now shake my goddamn hand so I can leave.”

Slowly, Barnes placed his non-metal hand in Tony’s and gave it a firm shake. “…Thank you,” he whispered, and Tony nodded before pulling his hand away and walking towards the Quinjet where Peter stood waiting. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me tell you I was stuck for a solid five minutes trying to figure out why we call sitting cross-legged 'criss-cross applesauce' and debating on whether I should write it with the applesauce or without, and then I wondered why we said applesauce in the first place, and also why my tiny little brain could not for the life of it say 'criss-cross' without the applesauce and now I wonder if it's just an American thing or if everyone does it?? Anyways that was my mini crisis today hope you enjoyed the fact that I kept the applesauce lmao


End file.
